Review

Review Summary: Explosions in the Sky release yet another solid release, even if it is a tad of a let down in my own eyes.

Explosions in the Sky are usually included with the big three groups of post-rock, Godspeed You Black Emperor and Sigur Ros. Where they lack the decisively political angle of Godspeed You Black Emperor and the vocally driven lushness of Sigur Ros, they’ve cleared themselves a large niche by creating extremely simple and emotional post-rock staples. Their releases “Those Who Tell The Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell The Truth Shall Live” and “The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place” are almost always name-dropped as examples of the post-rock genre and they are full of highly emotional and epic moments. With this in mind, I was extremely excited to hear they had a new record on the way and preordered it the first chance I got.

Exploding with a riff that sounds almost straight out of an Ennio Morricone composition, “All of A Sudden I Miss Everyone” certainly establishes itself as a record different from EiTS’s past work. While they aren’t building into layered soundscapes the same way they did previously, on the limited release, “The Rescue,” the combination of the ideas from that record and their past work is clearly shown on opener “The Birth and Death of the Day.” Other notable tracks are the brooding epic “It’s Natural To Be Afraid” and the depressing piano based “What Do You Go Home To"” Explosions in the Sky has clearly taken note of their flaws and with all of their effort tried to do something original with “All of A Sudden I Miss Everyone.” Adding touches of piano and improving on the stylings of their guitar playing has left the record feeling fresh. However, their search for stretching their sound does seem a little limited in the end; moments like the crescendo at 5:55 in “The Birth and Death Of The Day “ seem like they could easily be transferred back into songs found on their early releases. A sense of “I’ve already heard this” is certainly always present when listening to “All of A Sudden I Miss Everyone.”

The question is; does the album seem repetitive because Explosions in the Sky isn’t trying or because their style has been so frequently copied" My own search for something similar to the band’s majestic early works has run me into almost near clones like Yndi Halda and Red Sparowes. EiTS’s simple post-rock-by-numbers method has been imitated constantly over the past three years and now that they’ve finally returned with an original LP it is hard to shake the feeling that this release is just another revision of their previous records. While clearly it is their best work to date, the purposefully epic moments of the music just don’t hold the same candle to the ones that were found on their earlier records. Is this because they lack the same discipline" No, it is because I’ve already heard them. If this was my first Explosions in the Sky record I’d probably be blindly in love, but the fact is, it isn’t—it is my fourth. And with time has come a desire for originality that the band is just nearly in the grasp of but falling short. Chances are I will still be interested in the group’s next release but as for now I will probably return “All of A Sudden I Miss Everyone” back to my shelf and reach for the nostalgia-soaked “The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place.” As guitarist Munaf Rayani said in a recent interview, “Instrumental music is yours to have. The story can be completely different for everyone. There’s beauty in that.” And while this is true, there is also the fact that every moment can have only one ideal soundtrack. At this point in my life, “All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone” isn’t it.

Yeah, I pretty much agree with you through-and-through here. There are quite a few moments where you go, "I've heard this before," but there are enough subtle quirks ("The Birth and Death of Day," "Welcome, Ghosts," and "Who Do You Go Home To?") to keep listeners interested... they just don't really expand as much as I thought they would. I also agree that a lot of allusions to Travels in Constraints (Vol. 21) is on here.

Not a bad album by any means, but it doesn't do much to distance itself from their previous work.This Message Edited On 02.15.07

Right now the only track that stands out for me is Welcome, Ghosts, this doesn't do much for me but I'll give it more time. Their debut album was excellent but I wasn't really able to get into anything else by EiTS.

edit: very good review too, The Earth is Not A Cold, Dead Place is pretty good. Do you really like these guys better than Sigur Ros? (random question, but I think I recall you making fun of SR in Alt/Indie) This Message Edited On 02.16.07